Hurrah! We're off on the trail of the Famous Five

By HESTER LACEY

The pretty little seaside town of Swanage sits above the deep blue waters of Swanage Bay in the Purbeck hills. It was Enid Blyton's favourite holiday haunt and she was so keen on this gorgeous corner of Dorset that she used many of the locations in her books.

Want to see the real Kirrin Castle and Whispering Island, or follow in the footsteps of PC Plod or the Famous Five? Local Enid expert Vivienne Endecott now offers guided tours of Blyton's Dorset. Hurrah!

Famous Five fanatics Poppy, Daniel, Chip and Megan, all 8, and Nathaniel, 11, plus assorted mums and one brave dad, started their Big Blyton Adventure from the suitably Five-ish accommodation of the Swanage youth hostel.

This is where Vivienne billets her groups, though Blyton stayed at the smart Grosvenor Hotel (now sadly demolished to make way for a new sewage works).

The children's first surprise was that sweets and chocolate were rationed, because Vivienne aims to recreate some of the post-war atmosphere that Blyton's first readers would have experienced. Crikey!

Happily, there were plenty of generous adults around to share their coupons. Good show!

George, Anne, Julian, Dick and Timmy were no slouches when it came to enjoying fresh air and exercise, and we were not let off either. On the first morning, we walked around Swanage. Blyton would still find the town familiar today.

I went there for my first, proper, away-from-home holiday around three decades ago. Since then it has hardly changed. You can still buy fresh crab and fish and chips on the quayside, and there are plenty of seaside essentials such as shrimping nets, buckets and spades, and rock, nougat and fudge available on the main street.

Cafe Floret still serves the hazelnut nussknacker cakes and chocolate eclairs we used to stop off for when I was a child. I can agree with EB that it's the perfect place for a traditional seaside holiday. Topping!

For lunch, we gathered a picnic from the youth hostel (sadly no hard-boiled eggs or ginger beer) and set off across Godlingstone Heath, a few miles out of the town.

Below us we could see Brownsea Island, immortalised as Whispering Island in Five Have A Mystery To Solve.

We adults puffed along, laden with coats and sandwich bags, while the children scampered ahead. When we reached the Agglestone, a solitary chunk of rock standing above the surrounding heathland, the kids were already involved in a Famous Five adventure of their own.

Happily, there were exactly five of them to fill all the roles (Daniel's Timmy had an extraordinarily realistic bark). On the way back we passed the former home of the original PC Plod, who used to walk the beat in Studland village.

That evening was one of the highlights of the break: the night hike.

Armed with torches, we set out through Durlston Country Park towards Durlston Castle, a landmark Blyton would certainly have known. Peering over the cliff in the dark, we could see the flashing pinpoints of the lighthouses on Anvil Point, Portland and the Needles.

Were there smugglers watching, too, down in the bay? Probably not, but it all seemed very Five-ish as we settled down to al fresco ginger cake and biscuits by torchlight. It wasn't exactly a midnight feast, but 9pm is quite late enough when you're only 8.

Walking back, all our brave adventurers were flagging and complaining of sore feet. Happily, we didn't have to deal with any pesky kidnappers, gold traffickers or other villains on the way into town. Phew!

It wasn't all a route march. Vivienne had other Blytonesque moments up her sleeve.

We sang along to popular tunes from the war years, learned to make doll furniture out of conkers and pins, and drank Ovaltine, serenaded by an ancient Ovalteenies LP.

Vivienne, 42, is the author of The Dorset Days of Enid Blyton and is a life-long Blyton fan. She set up her company, Ginger Pop, which runs the Blyton breaks, because she got so fed up with the way that Thomas Hardy had appropriated the Dorset literary scene. "It is unlikely," she says, "that it was Hardy that you were reading under the bedclothes when you were small." Gosh, no.

Blyton, she reckons, qualifies on all fronts as a Great Author. "She wrote 700 books, in a dozen different genres, including poetry, plays, adventure, mystery and biography.

"She could write appropriately for children aged between 3 and 13, and she wrote good stories for ordinary children. She has international appeal, she has been translated into 42 languages. And she still sells 8 million books every year."

And she knew all about conkers, it seems as one of those 700 volumes was on this very subject.

I regret to say that Poppy beat me soundly in the first round of our conker tournament, much to her glee.

I should have boiled the bally thing in vinegar, or something. "I've beaten an adult," shrieked Poppy, in triumph. At least I have the consolation that Poppy was our eventual conker champ, so no shame in losing to her. Well played, old girl!

On Sunday, we gathered at Swanage station to catch the steam train to Corfe.

We were lucky enough to pick a day when Thomas the Tank Engine was pulling the carriages.

Thomas, of course, is not a Blyton creation, but he must rival Noddy et al in terms of infant pulling power.

Corfe's impressively ruined castle was the inspiration for Kirrin Castle, George's very own adventure playground.

The jackdaws that Blyton mentioned in her books still squawk round the towers and stones.

Once we passed over the grassy moat, the children vanished to pursue their own games and enjoy an hour or two of freedom.

The mums, meanwhile, lay down on the grass in the sun to gossip at leisure. It was all very 50s. And none the worse for that. Hooray!

- INDEPENDENT

Getting there

Sunny Story Holiday adventure weekends for families cost £110 ($304) for adults and £90 ($249) for children with full board included. Jolly Jaunts for teenagers and adults, such as In the Footsteps of the Famous Five, cost £265 ($733) for four days and include partial board and all entrance fees. More information can be found online on Swanage and the surrounding Isle of Purbeck or visit The Enid Blyton Society.